HIV SERVICES LOCATOR

Using Social Media to Promote Health and Wellness for Gay and Bisexual Men

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The San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) will launch - a new center for health and wellness for gay, bi and trans men - in October. The program brings together the foundation's free services for sexual health, substance use, and mental health and community engagement and support.

HIV.gov asked Andrew Hattori, SFAF’s Director of Marketing & Communications, to tell us how the organization is using social media to promote the launch of the new program - Strut:

“We’ve started using our existing channels on Facebook and Twitter to introduce Strut to the community. We’re hoping that partner organizations around the country will promote and share information about Strut. Because we know our Facebook followers in particular react well to video, we created a video that introduces the center and our approach to supporting a healthy community.” (See below)

“In order to introduce the new brand to the community, we launched strutsf.org and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages, too. We uploaded the ads we created, which will appear in print, in outdoor advertising spaces, and online, so people can share them to show their support. Our Facebook followers can also see behind-the-scenes photos of the space.”

“During construction, we launched our ‘See Yourself Here’ campaign at 470castro.org, which features pictures of real members of the community. This campaign showcases community members who provide their own images to show support for the center. Users tag photos of themselves on Instagram with the hashtag #seeyourselfhere. Those photos automatically appear on the website.”

“Finally, when we get closer to opening the doors in October, we’ll be expanding content at strutsf.org to include resources about sexual health and HIV testing, substance use and harm reduction, and community support. Hours of operation and a calendar of events will also feature prominently on the site.”

Many Federal agencies have developed public awareness and education campaigns to address HIV prevention, treatment, care, and research. In this section, you’ll find a snapshot of these Federal HIV campaigns and links to help you access more information as well as campaign materials that you can use. Also included is information about campaigns related to the prevention and diagnosis of hepatitis B and C.

HIV.gov's Virtual Office Hours provides free social media technical assistance for the HIV community. Appointments are available for individuals or groups who want to learn how to best use social media for their HIV programs.